Russian Intelligence Moves Back Into Cuba

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (left) hugs Cuba’s President Raul Castro after a meeting at the Revolution Palace in Havana last week.

This week, I listened to certain talk show hosts knock the Monroe Doctrine… saying that much of the trouble in South and Central America was due to our interventionism. What horsepucky. The Monroe Doctrine kept us safe and put our enemies on notice — it contained terrorists and Communists. In the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, President John F. Kennedy cited the Monroe Doctrine as a basis for America’s “eyeball-to-eyeball” confrontation with the Soviet Union that had embarked on a campaign to install ballistic missiles on Cuban soil. Obama and Kerry declaring it ‘dead’ have left us extremely vulnerable to a whole host of Communist enemies, who are now gearing up over there to spy, and at some point, almost assuredly attack us due to our weak foreign policy. Welcome to the new and horribly improved Cuban Missile Crisis redux.

Raul Castro welcomed Vladimir Putin, where they met to discuss bilateral agreements. Before that, both presidents participated together in a flower offering to the Sovietic International Soldier Mausoleum.

Russia and Cuba have signed an agreement to reopen Russia’s intelligence base in Castro’s paradise. It was one of their largest bases ever and Russia used to pay them two million a year in rent for it. Now, Russia will be listening in on the U.S. and the entire Western Hemisphere unmolested. While this rages, Obama just implemented toothless sanctions that are nothing more than smoke and mirrors in the diplomatic shuffle among dictators (but it does include gun control):

President Barack Obama slapped Russia with another batch of economic sanctions on Wednesday for its incursions into Ukraine, including new restrictions on Russian government leaders, major banks and even the maker of the iconic Kalashnikov assault rifle.

Among those sanctioned were a top Russian spymaster, a Ukrainian separatist leader, a top lawmaker and Moscow’s minister for the Crimea, which Russian troops seized in an armed incursion earlier this year. The Treasury Department also sanctioned Russian arms manufacturers, parts of energy companies and financial institutions.

“We have to see concrete actions and not just words that Russia is in fact committed to end this conflict along the Russia-Ukraine border,” Obama said in the White House press briefing room. Thus far, he continued, “Russia has failed to take any of the steps” that the Obama administration called for to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine.

Russia Today, Putin’s and the Kremlin’s propaganda outlet, giddily reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin cemented the deal to resume operations at the intelligence facility in Lourdes, Cuba, after meeting last week with Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana. For those of you unfamiliar with the Cold War that never ended:

The facility in Lourdes, a suburb of Havana located just 250km from continental USA, was opened in 1967. At the peak of the cold war it was the largest signal intelligence center Moscow operated in a foreign nation, with 3,000 personnel manning it.

From the base Russia could intercept communications in most part of the US including the classified exchanges between space facilities in Florida and American spacecraft. Raoul Castro, then-Defense Minister of Cuba, bragged in 1993 that Russia received 75 percent of signal intelligence on America through Lourdes, with was probably an overstatement, but not by a large amount.

In 2001, Russia closed down the base after the U.S. threatened to not ‘forgive’ their debts unless they did so. The economic extortion now is on the other foot and payback is a bitch and a half with inflation.

While we are being destroyed from within and without thanks to Obama, Russia has made her move to expand her influence and power in the Western Hemisphere. The Russian Bear is ravenous and we are on the menu. So much for all those who did not believe me or Trevor Loudon when we warned repeatedly on this threat for years. Russia just inked a deal to build a nuclear reactor in Argentina. The Russkies have their dirty fingerprints all over Venezuela and virtually every other country in the region. At the same time, Putin finalized a deal between Russian and Cuban energy companies and waived 90 percent of Cuba’s Soviet-era debt — about 32 billion dollars. Trade will also increase exponentially between the countries and I’ll bet it won’t be with the U.S. dollar. The two countries also signed about a dozen accords in areas such as energy, industry, health and disaster prevention, including a $1.6 billion deal on four energy-generation units between Inter RAO EES OAO (MCX:IRAO), a Russian state-controlled energy company and Union Electrica, the Cuban state power company.

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Putin gave his word to Cuba that they would overcome the “illegal blockade” imposed on it by the U.S. Gee, I wonder what that meant? He added that Russia was interested in placing their global navigation satellite system, or Glonass, ground stations in Cuba. The country could then access satellite communication services in the area of the stations. Feeling warm and fuzzy yet? What you probably feel is that target on the U.S. getting larger by the minute.

Governments such as Russia, China and Iran view Latin America as a “political vacuum” in light of less U.S. engagement in the region. Obama is content to let our enemies run amok over there and put the entire nation at risk. It’s Progressive inclusion militarily and anti-colonialist in his viewpoint. I call it national suicide. It should go really well with the invasion over our Southern border. If one doesn’t do us in, the other will. Actually, both will.

The most recent example is in Central America, where the administration and lawmakers have reduced security assistance, he said. Tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors have now fled violence in their home countries to seek asylum in the United States.

“Latin America is not even in the top 10 of issues of perceived importance by this administration, and countries like Russia, China, and even Iran are certainly exploiting those opportunities,” he said.

The State Department declined to comment on this story.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.), a Cuban-American lawmaker and former chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also expressed concerns about Putin’s actions in a statement to the Free Beacon.

“During his trip, Putin met with the Castro brothers, the worst human rights violators in our hemisphere, and forgave some of Cuba’s debt, signed a nuclear agreement with Argentina, and reaffirmed economic cooperation with Nicaragua,” she said. “Russia continues to undermine our foreign policy objectives throughout the world and its presence in our own hemisphere can destabilize the region and is meant to thumb its nose at the United States.”

If we were looking for a wild time as a nation and to die young as one, this fits the bill nicely. All the while a ruthless Putin snuggles with the murderous Castro brothers. If you actually listen to Putin’s blather, it sends a chill up your spine:

In an interview with the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina, Putin said the “Latin American nations that struggled for their independence inspire our deepest respect for their autonomy and their right to self-determination.”

“Today, cooperation with the Latin American nations is one of the key orientations and prospects of Russian foreign policy,” Putin told Prensa Latina. “Multilateralism in world affairs, respect to international law, strengthening of the central role of the U.N. and sustainable development are the principles that bring us together.”

You see, both Putin and Obama love the UN and have the same goals. Marxists of a feather… Putin slyly stated: “We are disposed to recover lost possibilities.” Yeah, I’ll bet. Meanwhile, the mainstream media fawns over the Russian emergence over here and the resurgence of Cuba, Argentina and Brazil with their Communist leaders. It’s sooo romantic, it’s to die for.

Yep, Russian intelligence is moving back into Cuba. They’ll be able to watch and hear all we do and strengthen their hold on the Western Hemisphere. Must be that flexibility that Obama alluded to.